My adult daughter, who happens to be mobility challenged, had a semester off in her university studies and she has always wanted to explore Australia and New Zealand. Being that we are mega cruise fans and love Celebrity as a brand, we embarked on a month long odyssey together - she, myself and Celebrity - we booked back to back cruises on the Solstice - the 12 night departing Sydney on January 16 and the 18 night departing Auckland on January 28. I will review the second cruise separately so do look for that.

How do I love Celebrity, let me count the ways........we cruised Aqua Class and I cannot recommend Aqua Class more highly. Forget Concierge class, you get nothing for it except a gold Seapass card. But, with Aqua Class, you are able to dine in the very special restaurant Blu - which exists solely for Aqua Class passengers. The food and service are excellent and crucially, you have complete freedom as to when you dine - no need to make a reservation, you just show up anytime it's open and the maitre'd, who after your first or second meal with them will most likely have memorized your cabin number, will show you to a beautifully appointed table - many tables are right at the floor to ceiling windows, but all tables have beautiful ocean views. Also with Aqua Class, you get afternoon canapes in your cabin, flowers in your room, free admittance to the Persian Garden in the spa - but, meh, no biggie to any of those - but Blu, yes, yes - Blu alone is the reason to book Aqua - and the up charge when for Aqua is minimal - the value add is great. And, hey, if you're looking for a non-white Seapass card, yes, with Aqua class, you get an aqua colored card - and people 'in the know' know that it's better to be aqua than gold!

Our cabin was beautiful, but, we knew it would be, as this is my fourth (and fifth, with the back to back) cruise with Celebrity. We very much enjoyed our veranda, often enjoying coffee in the mornings on it as we would sail into ports, or wine in the evenings as we would leave a port, or while contemplating a sunset. We had a great view of the navigational bridge, so our veranda also provided a great captain-peeking spot, fun to watch him working while docking. Read more